Keep East Coast Public

Since 2009, the East Coast Main Line has been in public ownership, after two previous private train operators were forced to bail out on the franchise due to financial difficulties.

Directly Operated Railways (DOR) on East Coast has been a success. They have received record levels of customer satisfaction on the line and have out-performed the previous franchise holders as well as private operators on other lines like Virgin on West Coast.

Not only that but DOR on East Coast receives the lowest subsidy of any operator and returns more money back to the state than any other train operator. In 2013/14 it paid £217m to the Treasury, and since 2009 East Coast has returned over £1bn to the the taxpayer, all of which will be re-invested in the service, instead of going into the pockets of company shareholders.

East Coast, which has won 37 industry awards, shows that publicly owned and operated rail can be a success in the UK. It is a model for the rest to follow.

Despite this, the government wants to sell East Coast off to another private train operator. And they are in a hurry, aiming to privatise the service by October 2014.

This sell off is unnecessary, financially irresponsible and motivated by a blind faith in the false economy of rail privatisation.

We need to stop it.

What can you do?

Action for Rail will be campaigning with a whole range of partners to fight the government’s plans.